Disabled groups 'on fringe'

DISABLED people in Coventry are not being consulted enough over council plans to cut their care because there are too many groups representing them in the city, a council officer has told campaigners....

DISABLED people in Coventry are not being consulted enough over council plans to cut their care because there are too many groups representing them in the city, a council officer has told campaigners.

People attending a meeting of the Coventry Disability Forum yesterday voiced fears about the knock-on effects of a Coventry City Council plan to close a day service centre in Torrington Avenue, Tile Hill.

Forum members complained there had not been enough consultation about the closure and its effects but were told letters had been sent to all service users affected.

Council access services development manager Mike Ridout said the decline of the Coventry Disability Forum and the fragmentation of groups representing disabled people in the city meant it was difficult for the city council to get people's views.

He said: "There may not have been enough consultation but there has been some. Disability groups have fragmented. It has been very difficult to know who to consult."

Forum chairman Lesley Kelly called for disabled groups and people in the city to get involved with the forum.

Mrs Kelly also called on the city council to give more information to the forum, saying the council had failed to provide as many details about its plans since it abolished committees and switched to a cabinet system.

The centre in Torrington Avenue will be closed and the land sold off, probably for housing or an industrial development - meaning that some 60 people will need to attend other centres. This has created uncertainty for users of all the centres affected.

Mr Ridout told the forum he hoped a public meeting could be arranged so that disabled people, their families and carers could talk to councillors about the plan.

Day service users with severe learning difficulties are likely to go to the Centre for Integrated Learning in Faseman Avenue, Tile Hill.

People with less serious learning difficulties, mental health problems and physical or sensory impairments may be moved to the Wilfred Spencer Centre in Allesley Park.

Mr Ridout said 69 workers had left their jobs from a total of more than 200.

He said cuts over the last five years meant some people's care had been cut from 30 to 40 hours a week to just three or four - but said that had helped many people to gain more independence.